J/2, 



THE AUK: 



A Q^UARTERLY JOURNAL OF 



ORNITHOLOGY. 

 VOL. IX. October, 1892. No. 4. 



BREEDING HABITS OF THE FISH HAWK ON 

 PLUM ISLAND, NEW YORK. 



BY CHARLES SLOVER ALLEN. 



( tV///i Plates IV afid V.) 



Even the wildest and most independent of our feathered friends 

 rarely fail to show a proper appreciation of our demonstrations 

 of kindness and good-will toward them. Wherever thorough 

 protection is afforded to both them and their young during the 

 breeding season their confidence in our good intentions is simply 

 wonderful, and we are trusted as soon as we have conclusively 

 shown ourselves to be worthy of their confidence. They quickly 

 learn when and where safety is to l)e found and whom to trust or 

 fear. The German Stork is exceedingly wild and cautious in the 

 fields, woods, and along the river marshes, yet confidently builds 

 its nest upon tlie housetops and churches in the villages and towns, 

 and often struts about the dooryards. In Germany it has taken 

 centuries to bring about this result; but I know of an island, less 

 than one hundred miles from New York, where Fish Hawks, prior 

 to 1SS5, had been protected for over thirty years, and where they 

 were almost as tame as the German Storks. In this year Plum 

 Island (the island in question) was sold to a syndicate who 

 planned the construction of large hotels and cottages ; since then 

 all has completely changed. For about forty years Plum Island 

 had belonged to the Jerome family, and the Fish Hawks had been 

 protected and in every way encouraged to occupy the island as a 

 nesting place. 

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